Summertime wears a person out

This is what the start of summer does to the Hynes family.....They go from a strict 7:30 bedtime to a "whenever Mom needs some alone time" bedtime and slumber parties every other night. They run in the sun, engage in fights with each other that would wear out Muhammad Ali, and then crash wherever they can find a soft, quiet corner of the house. I love these shots...Elliott started this nap out on the couch, sometime in the middle of it he slid onto the floor, then woke up and finished it on the red couch in the other room. I love Lucy's nap because it is in the biggest pile of blankets and pillows I have ever seen; who wouldn't fall asleep in that?

Here is a little bit more of the things we do to wear them out:
Library time!

Dirt biking adventures. I like the three motorcycles piled in Mike's truck....big, medium, and small.
Our Motorcycle Mamma.
Jump Time! It's an indoor trampoline extravaganza!

PS, another good thing about the summer is that they can play outside without getting frost bite. Example: right now they are banished to the front yard for an undisclosed amount of time because they wouldn't stop bickering...sweet.

In other news...I have finally started getting Brown Box. It's a organic, local vegetable and farm egg delivery service that brings me yummy goodies every other week. I like my rainbow radishes.

Archie is 2 Months Old!

Our Little Big Guy

Archie is 2 months old now! At his doctor's appointment, he weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds!! That is wonderful considering he was too small and lost too much weight just 6 weeks ago! look at our little chunk now! His weight is 7th %, his height, 21 3/4, is 5th %, and his head is....76th%!! What a smart man he is going to be. I love his many faces. These photo collages capture them so well I think. See if you can find:

1. Archie cross-eyed
2. Archie raising one eyebrow (ok, he has no eyebrows, so raising one eyebrow- muscle)
3. Archie's "Hynes brow"
4. Archie cheering for his wonderful weight gain!

5. Archie doing his pursed lips (my personal favorite face)

*answers at bottom of page

Archie is now smiling more often at random windows and furniture, cooing more often (still mostly at Elliott), he has outgrown his preemie clothes, he has moved out of newborn diapers. He is such a good sleeper; when he is ready for bed, I just have to wrap him up in a tight burrito and lay him in his bed. He will gaze around him for about a 1/2 hour, and just drift gently to sleep....aahhhh. He sneezes at least 2 times, something he inherited from his Dad. Just like his Dad, brother and sister, he rubs his little eyes when he gets sleepy. He loves to nestle into my hair when I hold him on my shoulder, and he can go from happy to red-faced screamer amazingly fast. He is Elliott's favorite audience for his singing concerts, and he is Lucy's favorite thing to show off to her friends. He makes his Dad gush and his Mom so happy. We love our little Archie!

1. Cross-eyed Archie

2. One eyebrow muscle Archie

3. "Hynes Brow" Archie

4. Cheering Archie

5. Pursed lips Archie

The End of the School Year

School's out! The first day of summer both kids had their annual breakdown....tears, tantrums, screaming and door slamming, so we can officially get this summer break underway! Luckily, the fits only last a bit, and then the real fun begins! This summer we are going to Arizona to visit family, camping, fishing, dirt biking, swimming, and anything else we can think of! I have to keep Archie warm and in the shade, so unfortunately, no swimsuits for me.....awe, bummer, I am SO SAD about that! **wink wink**

Anyway, here are some pictures of the kids first and last days of school; let's see how much they've grown!

This year Elliott learned all his letters, numbers and shapes. He perfected writing his name (something he could actually do before, just not as well), learned his address, developed a love of cutting (something I wouldn't LET him do before!!), taping, pasting and creating, and he learned that he loves school. He has also realize that he loves his friends: playdates, school recess, whatever, the boy ALWAYS wants to be playing with someone. We are so proud of our soon-to-be-kindgergartener!

Elliott's preschool had a Jungle Jamboree picnic to celebrate the last day of school. It was cold and rainy that day (as it was EVERY day this spring), so it became and indoor occasion. But, it was very fun. They had booths set up, crafts and yummy hot dogs. This is Elliott's cool tattoo from the tattoo booth.

Decorating his goody bag...
One of his favorite games there, the bean bag toss...

Digging for treasure in rice! So fun.

His other favorite game there...GOLFING! He is obsessed with it right now, even though he has never been golfing! He even wanted to ditch dirt-biking the other day because he wanted to golf. Geeze, maybe we'll have to do that in Arizona when we're there!

Here is our little first-grade Lucy:

And here is our big second-grade Lucy! This year Lucy learned that she LOVES to read. I caught her up in her room reading the other night, an hour after bedtime and she said, "what, Mom, I do this every night"!! Great that she loves to read, bad that she is doing it instead of sleeping! She has learned about math, history, geography, how to jump-rope, criss- cross, she ran 10 miles for her school's Discovery Dashers, she learned how to be a good friend and how to be a good student. Way to go Lucy!

This is Lucy and her 1/4 Korean friend, Seneka, who just happened to be in her class! YAY Kimbop buddies!

Lucy and Surreal...
Lucy and Sydney B...
Lucy's teacher, Ms. Unger.

This is Tyler R admiring Archie; Lucy loved showing him off to her class.

What a year, and what a summer it is going to be!

Spring is Creeping In

Finally it is starting to look like spring around here! Good thing too; things get a little crazy when we are stuck in the house all day when it rains...

We do have some fun indoors though, when there is dance video games, a wii console, and crazy Korean relatives to play with...




But, once the weather is nice, we get to explore outside and that is always fun. Last weekend, our subdivision had its annual garage sale, so the kids had something to do while I jogged around the neighborhood. Here is what Lucy bought with her allowance:


That day, we got our new chairs delivered, and Elliott found something fun to do outside with the packaging:
Then we had a barbecue at Harmony and Had Abogi's house and got to try out our new, giant volleyball:
See, life is good in the spring in Boise.

Here are some pictures of the big brother and big sister of the house. They look so proud of themselves: Archie is big enough that they can be a little more adventurous when holding him now. This is the "just-chillin" hold:

Poppy Happy!!

I love POPPIES!!! All kinds, all colors, all over my yard!!! I have failed to grow them from seed for several years, so last year I finally bought a poppy mix and just poured it all over my flower bed: success!! They were Iceland poppies, so they are smaller, and I love the big Oriental ones, so I planted more seeeds. Bummer again. But, I bought a few seedlings and here we go! I am still waiting for my white and fuchsia orientals to grow, but so far my yard is lovely! Take a look:

I think Archer loves poppies too, don't you?
This was my first poppy of the year. Around my sidewalk, the water pooled and all the seeds flooded to there, so they are crowded and tiny! It is a little bit cute.

Elliott certainly loves a poppy too!
Mike and Archie are admiring the view.
That's what I'm talking about! An oriental poppy that I bought as a seedling. Hopefully it will reseed and spread the love next year!
Gorgeous!
This little guy loves poppies too, I just know it! That's why he's hanging out Alice in Wonderland style in my flower bed.
That's right....gorgeous again!
This is my crown jewel! I planted these peach oriental seeds last year, along with the white and fuchsias, but they didn't take. Bought this one as a seedling and voila!



Happy times.